Snowdog

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Sunstar is a global provider of oral care solutions. Oral care is one of the company’s four business divisions and I’m the director of digital transformation strategy, and services for their consumer group, which it falls under. I work specifically on frontend technologies and marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Snowdog?

Some of our smaller brands for running on a very old version of Magento, so we needed a certified Magento Commerce expert who could still handle the very first version of the platform until we can migrate to a new one.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope of the work was for two smaller brands that ran globally. Snowdog came in to assess the work of a previous agency and evaluate what needed to be done. They looked into the possibility of maintaining the legacy code on Magento 1.x.

Snowdog also managed the updates in order to extend the functionality and upgrade the customer experience. Their team made the changes, maintained them, and migrated the infrastructure from another AWS.

What is the team composition?

Our main points of contact were very streamlined. Dorota (Project Manager) kept everything effortlessly orchestrated and we only had one other contractor that we’d speak with. They had a team of around five people working on the backend. 

How did you come to work with Snowdog?

There are very few organizations in Europe that want to handle older technology because everyone has moved on to the newer versions of Magento. Even our current technology partner couldn’t help us with our needs. 

Snowdog, however,  offered to maintain this legacy platform even after Adobe has ceased maintenance. I heard about them through a group that I’m involved in called Adobe Insiders. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between €25,000–€40,000 (approximately $30,000–$47,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from April 2020–August 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Snowdog did great. We had no downtime or disruption in service. Our end users didn’t even know that there was a code migration because everything was so flawless. It was important that we kept the continuity of service since we had strict deadlines to be met with no extensions. 

The team respected our internal service-level agreement (SLA) and got us an offer in two days, which was a really fast response time. That was probably our biggest KPI. They were always on time and never over budget. 

How did Snowdog perform from a project management standpoint?

When there were urgent issues, Snowdog immediately responded within 24 hours. The communication was very succinct and their English was exceptionally good. 

Snowdog used Redmine to keep everything logged. They were very organized, professional, and pleasant to work with. At no point in time did we have to chase them. Kuba (CEO) was also extremely proactive and invested in the project. We could ask him anything.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Snowdog’s expertise was impressive. They’re clearly Magento Commerce masters.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They are so pragmatic and down to business that I would advise them to ramp up their communication and presentation deck when they come to work with larger organizations. Big corporations are accustomed to seeing fully baked documents with a little pizzazz. Snowdog could benefit from putting a little more gloss on their documentation and contracts. They deserve to put more fluff into their branding.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open to using Snowdog’s project management tools and ask the team for a full presentation of their services. Their expertise extends to beyond Magento Commerce and CMS. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the product owner of company which is the most innovative leader in online sales of footwear and accessories.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Snowdog, and what were your goals?

We hired Snowdog to help with foreign expansion and rapid development by implementing a new e-commerce platform.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We were looking for a team that would turn a bag of our ideas into a ready-made solution.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

At the beginning, our goal was to migrate existing sites. Then we focused on implementing new markets, adding more and more innovative solutions.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We established the scope and priorities of all issues with PM. We also had contact with backend and frontend developers, if required by the task. Their number varied and the team grew depending on the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The results were satisfactory. The tasks were accomplished with the highest quality.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had weekly meetings with their project manager, who reported on the progress of the work. If there were any delays, they let us know ahead of time. We used Slack, Jira, Redmine to communicate.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

People. Every team member was very involved in the project and it was a pleasure to work with them.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nothing is spring to my mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a creative ad agency. We primarily work on branding, messaging, and web design services. We've been working with SNOWDOG for a couple years now. They did a lot of our initial web development projects and some of our more robust e-commerce solutions as well.

I am the Digital Director here. I oversee all of our digital initiatives, primarily building websites and launching marketing campaigns.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SNOWDOG?

One particular challenge was for one of our clients integrating into their ERP [enterprise resource planning] system which was outdated, but also talking between Magento, that ERP system, and then a third party that connects all three of them. It was a really complicated process where we had three different developers, and SNOWDOG helped with all of the documentation and planning.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope is development with either WordPress or Magento, primarily focusing on Magento, doing a full design conversion, doing the architecture, pretty much hosting and setting up development production servers for us, and really just pushing everything out. They have a customized feedback portal that allowed us to go in and be able to do QA [quality assurance] on all of our projects. We could put a response in and it would provide us feedback and answer any questions. It was a really nice, streamlined process for us.

How did you come to work with SNOWDOG?

I don't actually know that because they started with us before I came on board. It might have been a referral or it might have been just found on the web.

How much have you invested with SNOWDOG?

Most projects have been between $15,000 and $20,000. The more complex builds have been significantly more.

What is the status of this engagement?

We are not working with them at the moment, but we would if any projects come up. The last time we worked with them was in January of last year. They were doing some QA for us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We don't really have any metrics, other than the fact that they built that portal for us. That was pretty much what tracked all of the engagements and the back-and-forth.

How did SNOWDOG perform from a project management standpoint?

Good. They obviously provided us with a tool to help us streamline our feedback and QA process. They were always good with communication. From my understanding, no deadlines were ever missed outside of anything that was related to the client pushing back. They were always good at being on time, delivering what we asked for, and answering any questions.

What did you find most impressive about SNOWDOG?

They're really good at what they do, which is Magento and e-commerce development. I think if I have any project related to Magento or e-commerce solutions, they are, in my mind, the first company I would ever go to for developing Magento websites.

Are there any areas SNOWDOG could improve?

Not that I know of. It's really good. Maybe they could have been cheaper if they wanted to be.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

IronPlane is a full-service e-commerce website development company. I am the owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SNOWDOG?

We were looking for the best Magento developers to partner with us, and so we discovered SNOWDOG. We wanted a reliable team that had a deep knowledge of Magento and understood what it takes to run complex projects. We started off with a small project and have since grown rapidly with them. SNOWDOG is a phenomenal company; well run and well managed. They hire only the best on their team to a point where we exclusively use them for our development work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It’s very specific. We do Magento website development, and iOS and Android development. I work closely with their owner to scope out complex projects. We then work with their development team and their project architects to further refine that. From there, we go back and forth between my core team and the team that manages the tasks and executes on the projects and milestones.

How did you come to work with SNOWDOG?

They did the work on a particular Magento extension years ago. They were core in building that extension for another company, and I asked that company who did it because I really was impressed with the quality I saw.

How much have you invested with SNOWDOG?

We probably do 50 plus projects with them a year. Unfortunately, we don’t release any figures.

What is the status of this engagement?

We discovered them four years ago. It’s to a point where we communicate every 20 minutes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

If you go to my site, IronPlane.com, and look under Our Work, you’ll see a couple of case studies. That would probably give you the best overall. We probably have about a 95% retention rate. We land a project, we do the work, and then they do our hosting and maintenance support agreements and stay with us year after year.

How did SNOWDOG perform from a project management standpoint?

Excellent. Very involved and very disciplined.

What did you find most impressive about SNOWDOG?

I think there’s three really important points to note here. One is that they are a dedicated Magento development shop. They’re not spread too thin; they are a deep-dive in terms of expertise. The owner was named one of 20 Magento masters by Magento, out of thousands of potential candidates this year. They run an organization that is very education-oriented. Their entire staff is always encouraged to keep getting better and better, whether through training or new challenges and such.

Are there any areas SNOWDOG could improve?

Like any company that’s good and growing, they continue to deal with challenges of how to keep the service level where it is, or improve it while also scaling the business. That’s a great challenge to have. We all struggle with that, which is good.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the founder, Chairman of the Board of Moli Serwis Pawel Molinski

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We sell Land Rover & Jaguar new parts

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Snowdog to accomplish?

• e-commerce
• website

SOLUTION

How did you find Snowdog?

Referral

Why did you select Snowdog over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Designing an online store, maintaining the work of the online store, introducing new payment channels, introducing new delivery methods, server coordination, creating a mobile application, introducing new products, preparation of advertising campaigns in the store.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Continuous and reliable operation of the online store, constant sales growth, introducing innovations that were not present in other stores in our trade

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

All designs are discussed in detail and tested before publishing. And it works! And the most important - on time! They're very quick to respond to our requests.

What was your primary form of communication with Snowdog?

• In-Person Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Creativity, a simple and understandable way of communication for me.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Snowdog could have done differently?

Every customer wants to pay as little as possible, and so do I. But I know that high quality has a cost. :)